| FTBL No reason given to Zeke?

[Guest]

http://blog.al.com/rapsheet/2008/07/more_on_zeke_knight_hes_offici.html

I know the medical staff certainly doesn't have to release any info. regarding Zeke's condition, but why wouldn't they share that info. with him? Am I reading too much into this? Just doesn't look good from our standpoint (again).

 

[TerryP]

That's a load of crap.

I knew of his heart condition a long, long time ago. He knows of his heart condition. His family knows, his doctor knows, the staff knows...for his high school coach to say "they aren't telling him why" is pure and simple BS.

 

[bama4life]

^^BSFLA

 

[Rolling Tide]

They could if they wanted to do so. I think they are looking out for his well being and to open up a scholly.

 

[Guest]

That's a load of crap.

I knew of his heart condition a long, long time ago. He knows of his heart condition. His family knows, his doctor knows, the staff knows...for his high school coach to say "they aren't telling him why" is pure and simple BS.

That's kind of what I thought. ;scr

I just wish the coach didn't have to say what he did. It makes it sound like there are harsh feelings between UA and Zeke (and maybe there are). He HAS to know that everyone from Saban to Steele to Mal Moore to the water boy to me in Section G wants him playing. He has to know that "not clearing him" is not a good thing for Alabama.

In this case I have to side with the doctors, but the way it's being spun is once again being negative toward UA.

 

[TerryP]

Considering it's Ian, you have to automatically question if what he wrote is actually the truth.

It wouldn't surprise me if the Coach said that about Faulkner and Ian threw it out there to make it sound like it was a comment about Alabama.

 

[eshad]

http://blog.al.com/bamabeat/2008/07/thoughts_on_zeke_knight.html


This is much better article by Gentry Estes......

 

[Guest]

One thing to remember...HIPPA!

 

[imported_porkchop]

More on Zeke Knight: He has officially requested to transfer
Posted by Ian R. Rapoport -- Birmingham News July 15, 2008 10:23 PM
Categories: Football
Perhaps by now, you've seen my earlier blog about Alabama linebacker Ezekial Knight searching for another place to play. Or this full story in today's Birmingham News.


Officially requests a transfer
As coach Nick Saban has mentioned, Knight has still not been cleared by the Crimson Tide medical staff because of his undisclosed or undiagnosed health issues. So, Knight called some small schools hoping to pass a physical somewhere else.

That all came at about 3:30 p.m. today. But four hours later, I got some additional news. Turns out, Knight was doing more than calling around. According to his former high school coach, the senior from Wedowee has officially requested a transfer from Alabama.

"He asked to be released at Alabama and he's going to try to go to a smaller school," Randy Boyd, his former coach at Randolph County High, told me today.


"They didn't clear him to play at Alabama for some reason," Boyd continued. "He thinks he can play, and being young and ambitious, he's going to try and get cleared at a smaller school."

Boyd said Knight has talked with Faulkner University and Jacksonville State. Faulkner said no, and it's not clear what JSU and its medical staff said. Either way, it appears to be a longshot that his career will continue. I asked Boyd, how is Zeke handling this?

"He has mixed emotions right now," Boyd said. "From what he tells me, they tell him that he can't play, but they can't give him a reason why. They just tell him he just doesn't need to play. One or two smaller schools have told him if he gets cleared by the doctors, and the physical has been passed, they are going to let him play."

Delta, I've got several thoughts on this. First and foremost I'll have to echo what Terry's sentiments are in that this is just BS. His former high school coach a.k.a. designated spokesperson :roll: is BSing or Zeke is BSing. So I don't believe what I'm reading there. Someone is simply electing to withhold info so that it works to their benefit. Now while the powers that be at BAMA have proven to us time and again that they couldn't manage a lemonaid stand properly, I don't think this one is on them. I don't think they're the ones witholding info from Zeke.

I see this from a couple of different angles;

(1) Zeke is feeding info (limited info) to people like this guy in the article. So when these people have half the story they go around talking about how poorly Zeke is being treated and how BAMA won't clear him to play. It's like playing the victim card. Or....like when you get disciplined as a child. Many of us have done it growing up. You get in trouble and you know perfectly well what you did but what do you do when you go and see your friends? You say, "I don't know why I was grounded? I didn't do anything. They just grounded me for no reason". So now you have the sympathy of your freinds but you haven't really told the whole truth. But hey, it makes you look like the victim in the situation which is always a plus.

What I don't mean to imply is that Zeke is not a victim here though. He's been dealt a bad hand and it sucks, so he is a victim in a sense. But I wonder if Zeke or his family are playing games here.

So again, we're back to possible issues of doctor-shopping and withholding info to portrey oneself in a more positive light/get the desired end result.

(2) Zeke knows what's wrong with him. He's been told his condition, there's no two-ways about that. The thing is, Zeke may not fully understand it. Having a heart condition and knowing what exactly it is can be two totally different things. This situation reminds me a little of when I was working in Florida and we had a patient in our cardiology clinic with a mitral valve prolapse (which means one of his heart valves wasn't opening/closing on time basically). The guy was relatively healthy I guess and developed this condition in his late 40's or early 50's. See, the thing is, he couldn't understand why he had it, and to make matters worse.....the cardiologist didn't know why either. But that's not abnormal. Some conditions you just get. Some conditions you can get for a number of reasons and no one may ever know why or how. this guy I'm talking about could have had lime desease at some point. He could have had a birth defect that was never caught. He could have been an alcoholic at some point and developed the condition. How is the doctor supposed to know that? He can't. He can diagnose but he's not God and doesn't have all the answers.

Zeke has a heart condition and there aint no question about that. Does he fully understand the condition or why? I don't know. But Zeke isn't playing for a reason and he knows it.

 

[reger60]

If a doctor at the University of Alabama wont give Zeke the okay to play, then why would a doctor somewhere else risk his medical reputation (not to mention the kid's life) and say he's fit to play?

Even if Zeke signed a release, the PR that would boil over a tragic incident would be a nightmare. If I was an AD, I wouldn't want to be any part of that potential mess.

 

[imported_porkchop]

If a doctor at the University of Alabama wont give Zeke the okay to play, then why would a doctor somewhere else risk his medical reputation (not to mention the kid's life) and say he's fit to play?

Even if Zeke signed a release, the PR that would boil over a tragic incident would be a nightmare. If I was an AD, I wouldn't want to be any part of that potential mess.

If there were something in it for that doctor it might happen. It happens all the time. Maybe not in a situation exactly like this, but it happens. There are a lot of "physicians" out there practicing for all the wrong reasons and trying to make a buck, even at someone else's expense.